Associations between farmers market managers’ motivations and market-level Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Electronic Benefit Transfer (SNAP/EBT) availability and business vitality
Loading...
Date
2015-12-08
Access
Authors
Ward, Rachel
Slawson, Deborah
Wu, Qiang
Jilcott Pitts, Stephanie Bell
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Farmers markets are promoted to improve access
to healthy food for low-income consumers by
providing affordable produce via Supplemental
Nutrition Assistance Program Electronic Benefit
Transfer (SNAP/EBT). Having SNAP/EBT at
markets also expands revenue opportunities for
participating farmers. Market managers play a key
role in implementing SNAP/EBT and promoting
business opportunities for farmers, yet they are not
motivated equally by public health and business
goals. There are few studies examining market
managers’ influence on food access for low-income
households and business opportunities for farmers.
We examined associations between managers’
motivations and (1) food access for low-income
households, measured by SNAP/EBT availability,
and (2) business vitality, measured by vendor
participation. A survey assessing manager motivation, SNAP/EBT availability, and vendor participation was sent to all market managers
(N=271) in North Carolina. Seventy (26%)
managers completed the survey. Multiple
regression models were used to examine the
association between managers’ motivations to (1)
improve access to healthful food and SNAP/EBT
availability, and to (2) support business
opportunities and total vendor count, weekly
vendor count, and the number of vendors who sell
only what they produce (“producer-only”). There
was no significant association between food access
motivation and SNAP/EBT availability, or
business motivation and total and weekly vendor
count. A high business motivation score was
positively associated with having 13 more
producer-only vendors at the market. Manager pay
was positively correlated with vendor participation,
including total vendor, weekly, and producer-only
vendor counts. Our results suggest that public
health interventions should emphasize the business
opportunities offered by SNAP/EBT at farmers’
markets, ultimately leveraging market managers’
business goals to encourage SNAP/EBT
implementation.
Description
Ward, R., Slawson, D., Wu, Q., & Pitts, S. J. (2015). Associations between farmers market managers’ motivations and market-level Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Electronic Benefit Transfer (SNAP/EBT) availability and business vitality. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 6(1), 121–130. http://dx.doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2015.061.010. Licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license.
Citation
DOI
http://dx.doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2015.061.010